Bhopal: In a shocking video circulating on internet and different social media platform showed Titular Queen of Panna Jiteshwari Devi being humiliated and dragged out of a temple in Madhya Pradesh.
Panna State that belonged to the Bundelkhand Agency was a Princely State of colonial India located in today's Panna district of Madhya Pradesh.
In a video being circulated on internet and different social media platforms showed Queen of Panna attempting to perform puja at a local temple on the occasion of popular Hindu festival Janmashtami Thursday September 07, 2023.
Suddenly, priests present there started shouting, “Nikalo ise yehan se … (drag her out from here)”. And, forcibly dragged her out of the sanctum sanctorum, innermost part, of the temple even as Jiteshwari Devi, seen in the video with her both hands folded , tried to participate in the aarti.
Along with the video that is now viral on internet, social media and news outlets are abuzz with conflicting reports, and claims and counter claims of the shocking incident.
Talking to reporters, Jiteshwari Devi said she was forced out of the temple and not allowed to perform the puja because she is a widow.
“The priests insulted and prevented me from performing a ritual as I am a widow”, she is been quoted as saying by Hindutsan Times.
Devi said she was attacked for exposing a scam. “I was insulted and dragged out by the police and temple administration,” she alleged.
On the other hand, the temple priests said Jiteshwari Devi created nuisances and disturbance during the puja.
“Jiteshwari’s son was invited to perform it but he did not come. Jiteshwari Devi entered the temple and started creating a nuisance”, Santosh Kumar Tiwari, a temple administrator, said.
He also said that only men of the royal family have been performing the ritual on Janmashtami for the past 300 years.
He called it unfortunate that a woman from the royal family “broke with the tradition and disrupted the aarti of Lord Krishna.”
The beauty of Sanatan Dharma, A widow was stopped & dragged out from performing Aarti in Krishna temple of Panna. The woman belongs to the Royal family of Panna. pic.twitter.com/Pq6U9GX0Dc— The Dalit Voice (@ambedkariteIND) September 8, 2023
The beauty of Sanatan Dharma, A widow was stopped & dragged out from performing Aarti in Krishna temple of Panna. The woman belongs to the Royal family of Panna. pic.twitter.com/Pq6U9GX0Dc
The local police meanwhile arrested Jiteshwari Devi for “hurting religious sentiments by entering a temple’s sanctum sanctorum”, and produced her in court on Friday. Devi appealed for bail but her plea was rejected.
Devi has been sent to jail whereas M.L. Awasthi, the royal family's lawyer, said that he will apply for bail again on Saturday and hopes that it will be granted this time.
Incidentally, the humiliating case happened as India is already debating “inequality and injustice” meted to women and people from lower caste that started after DMK Chief Minister Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin said Sanatan Dharma is against the idea of social justice and equality, and must be eradicated.
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